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That is awesome. Just fantastic architecture. Great to see that it is still there and seems well preserved.
That is awesome. Just fantastic architecture. Great to see that it is still there and seems well preserved.
Rendering plants (such as Birmingham) on their own create a strong and usually unpleasant odor that seems to permeate the neighborhoods surrounding them. My last place of employment was north of, and usually downwind of, a Farmer John processing plant and two rendering plants; on a hot summer day the air could get really rank. But it's amazing, the things you can get used to. We'd have customers comment on it because they got nauseated almost to the point of vomiting from the smell, and we'd look at each other, shrug, and tell them, "It's actually not so bad today." lol
FF, it is actually still a working train station for downtown Richmond (Main Street Station). It's a very cool building, built in 1901.
This gem of a bakery is celebrating its 112 birthday tomorrow (I thought it was today, so I made the trek up from my apartment to congratulate them, but it turns out it is tomorrow). As a regular, I just wanted to say hi on their 112 (so back up tomorrow - what a shame, I'll have to buy more baked goods).
It is located on 87th and 1st Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. This used to be called "Germantown" for the obvious reason that it was heavily populated with German immigrants in the first half of the 20th Century. Now, this and a few other stores are all that remain of the German heritage in the neighborhood. But what a gem. The woodwork inside is incredible. And the bakery kitchen is fully visible with 100 year old marble pastry tables and mixing machines that to my eye look 75+ years old. While they have some modern baked goods, a lot of their item come from the founder's recipes which came over from Germany.
And the staff matches the store - solid, classic, old-values, great people. The baker is easy to chat with and passionate about keeping the tradition alive. The counter help is friendly and efficient and quirky (in a good way). And they will give you a sample without you having to ask (I never would) because that is how they've always done it. My favorites are their chocolate chip cookie (from a relatively modern 1950s recipe), apple strudel (no surprise there) and a killer eclair (I have no idea how that made it to a German bakery, but I'll put it up against any French bakery's eclair). And most items are not cloying - the flavors come from great recipes, quality ingredients and skilled baking - not just putting a bunch of sugar in.
If the photos didn't come up, please click on the links (and even if they did, click anyway as the links are different and better pictures) - because you want to see this place. New York City does two things to old places - it knocks them down or it "discovers" them and ruins them with attention that, most of the time, forces them upscale and fancy. But tucked away here and there are the legitimate old time stores, bars, restaurants that haven't been "discovered" and that are in normal people neighborhoods so that they can survive without charging an arm and a leg (as long as the owners two to five generations back made the wise decision to buy the building, if not, the rents even in these neighborhoods pushes these stores out of business).
If you ever get to NYC, it's worth checking this place out.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.778...!3m3!1smIoOe3KR-xuHAOY7_r1GFA!2e0!3e2!6m1!1e1
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.778...!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sEju6DmaNaWdeJJKRz3UnRA!2e0!3e2
View attachment 12101
View attachment 12102
Yep, that's one of the rendering plants I was talking about. Small world. Back in the mid- to late-60s I would often accompany my dad to his place of employment when I didn't have to go to school, and quite often I would ride along with one of the company's delivery drivers. Occasionally he would travel through Vernon, and it smelled exactly like that back then as well; I suppose those rendering plants have been in operation there for quite some time.One of the housemates works as a delivery driver and his route includes the Downtown L.A./ East L.A. area and one of his stops is a rendering plant in Vernon that makes dog food. Often he'll see piles of meat sitting in front of one of the buildings when he goes there.
Ian,
What a fantastic picture of Glaser's - and it shows that the links I found that looked original were actually a very old remolding. That makes sense as people back then weren't doing everything on credit, so they probably bought the improved cases and woodwork after they were successful and generated enough capital for them to reinvest in the business.
Forlini's looks fantastic - and is now on our ever-growing list of restaurants to try. Looks like a gem.
Glaser's - like the old school bakery that it is - is closed for summer vacation (!) until 8/19 (and it began it's vacation in early July). I work from home, but have a 9:30am meeting on 8/19, so I won't be there for the post-vacation opening until about 11am; otherwise, I'd be there when they open at 8am as I need to have (as referenced in my above post) their eclair, chocolate chip cookie and strudel. I've been going through Glaser withdrawal since they started their vacation.
If you go, please let me now what you think and I will do the same with Forlini's.
Mark
From what I understand, the dairy was gutted completely, and is all new inside. At least they didn't mess with the exterior.